mump, to make grimaces, to screw up the mouth. Otway, Venice Preserved, ii. 1 (Pierre); D’Urfey, Pills, vi. 198; a grimace, ‘Monnoye de singe, moes, mumps’, Cotgrave. ‘To mump’ is used in Northamptonsh. in the sense of drawing in the lips, screwing up the mouth with a smile: ‘She mumps up her mouth, she knows something’, see EDD. (s.v. Mump, vb.1 4).
mumpsimus. [In allusion to the story of an illiterate English priest, who when corrected for reading ‘quod in ore mumpsimus’ in the Mass, replied ‘I will not change my old mumpsimus for your new sumpsimus’ (NED.).] One who obstinately adheres to old ways in spite of the clearest evidence that they are wrong, an old fogey, Underhill in Narr. Reform. (Camden Soc., 141); Gascoigne, Supposes, i. 3 (Dulipo). See Nares.
mundungo, bad-smelling tobacco; ‘A mundungo monopolist’, Lady Alimony, ii. 2 (1 Boy); snuff-mundungus, Butler, Hud. iii. 2. 1006. A jocular use of Span. mondongo, ‘hogs puddings’ (Stevens).
munify, to fortify. Drayton, Barons’ Wars, ii. 34; hence, munificence, defence, Spenser, F. Q. ii. 10. 15 (ed. 1596).
munite, to fortify. Florio, tr. Montaigne, bk. i, c. 47; Bacon, Essay 3 (ed. Abbott, p. 10).
munpins, mouth-pegs, the teeth; a ludicrous form. Munpynnys, Skelton, The Douty Duke of Albany, 292. ‘Mun’ for mouth is in prov. use in the north, and in slang use generally, see EDD. (s.v. Mun, sb.1 1). Norw. dial. munn, the mouth (Aasen).
muraill, a wall; walls of a city. Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 201, back, 14. F. muraille.
murderer, murdering-piece, a cannon or mortar, discharging stones or grape-shot. Hamlet, iv. 5. 95; Fletcher, Woman’s Prize, i. 3 (Jaques); Double Marriage, iv. 2. 6.
mure, a wall. 2 Hen. IV, iv. 4. 119; Heywood, If you know not Me (Queen), vol. i, p. 338; to shut up, 2 Hen. IV, iv. 4. 119; mured up, Spenser, F. Q. vi. 12. 34. L. murus, a wall.
murleon, a merlin, a small hawk; ‘A cast [couple] of murleons’, Damon and Pithias, Ancient Brit. Drama, i. 88, col. 2. ME. merlioun, Chaucer (Parl. Foules, 339). F. esmerillon (Cotgr.).